If Missouri cares little enough about its rivalry with Kansas to dissolve the conference partnership they’ve shared nearly a century, don’t expect the Jayhawks to save the Border Showdown.

Faced with the request for a serious commitment to the Big 12, Missouri officials on Tuesday night announced they would begin exploring conference options.

That was a sure sign the Tigers would look to become members of the Southeastern Conference, which would jeopardize the K.U.-Mizzou rivalry that began in 1907.

Actually, if Jayhawks coach Bill Self has his preference, it would kill it.

“If they choose to be somewhere other than with us and with the other schools that they’ve been a part of and could jeopardize the future of the other schools ... I’m not going to make a commitment now that we’d ever play again," Self told the Lawrence Journal-World. "I’m not saying we won’t. I’m certainly not going to pretend that we would.”

Kansas’ future seems reasonably secure now that Oklahoma and Oklahoma State were declined by the Pac-12 and the eight Big 12 schools aside from Missouri appear to be prepared to enter a grant-of-rights deal that effectively would bind them all to the league for six years.

Still, Kansas' status as a BCS-conference member has been imperiled in each of the last two years. Self, rightfully, isn’t likely to forget this.

The Kansas-Missouri rivalry, like Red Sox-Yankees, has superseded the relative competitiveness of the two sides. It hasn’t mattered in New York and Boston that the Yanks have dwarfed the Sox in championships won; they still loathe one another and love the competition on the field.

Kansas has won three NCAA championships; Missouri never has been to the Final Four. The Jayhawks have won nearly twice as many games in the series as the Tigers. But it’s still a game that ignites passion. For instance, in 1997 Mizzou handed the great Kansas team of Jacque Vaughn, Paul Pierce and Raef LaFrentz its first — and only — regular-season defeat.

“To me, it’s a great rivalry — one of the best in college basketball without question — but I don’t think I would be interested in having a once-a-year game like I did when I was at Illinois, playing Missouri,” Self told the newspaper. “I could probably change my mind. Trust me, we would have no trouble finding another non-league game to play.

“I love the rivalry. Playing home and home in the league is great and all those things. I can’t imagine, why would we continue playing?”